CHONG JOINS FORCES TO PASS DRUG POLICY

by Susan Byrnes Seattle Times staff reporter

Just three weeks after his loss to Mayorelect Paul Schell, Seattle City
Councilman Charlie Chong did something his opponents and even some
colleagues had said he couldn't do: He teamed up with two other council
members to introduce a major piece of legislation and helped pass it.

The resolution, cosponsored by Councilwomen Tina Podlodowski and Martha
Choe, directs a sweeping revision of the city's drugtesting policy,
narrowing the classes of new employees who must undergo the tests. The
council passed the resolution yesterday 53.

Passage of the measure was a quiet victory for Chong, who opposed the
city's drugtesting policy from his first day on the job, but was quickly
branded a naysayer.

In his year on the council, Chong opposed the status quo, even when it
meant winding up on the losing end of 81 votes, but less frequently
offered viable alternatives.

"If he had done this all year, it would've been different," Podlodowski
said. "Look at all the people who came together."

Chong said that personal animosities on the council had made it difficult
for him to sponsor legislation in the past and that issues he encountered
chairing the personnel committee were fairly narrow.

Still, he downplayed the notion that yesterday's drugpolicy revision
marked a milestone.

"I've worked with other people steadily," said Chong, who gave up his seat
to run for mayor and will leave office at the end of December. "To say I
don't get along with people is really not fair."

Chong's aide, Matthew Fox, who helped write the resolution, wondered
whether politics played a role, making some colleagues less inclined to
work with Chong before the election. That, he said, has changed.

"You could throw him a bone or two, he's already out the door," Fox said.

But Chong also downplayed his role in the passage of the resolution, giving
credit to colleagues and aides who wrote it and rallied support for it.

"I was the godfather," he said. "I was not the prime mover."

The resolution narrows the classes of new employees who must be tested for
drugs. The old policy required all new employees but elected officials to
undergo drug tests. The new one requires tests only for those who work in
public safety, directly handle city funds, work with dangerous substances,
perform hazardous physical activities, operate vehicles or heavy machinery,
or work directly with minors.

The only thing that would prevent the resolution from going into effect
would be a veto by the mayor. Mayor Norm Rice's spokeswoman, Rebecca Hale,
said Rice would not oppose the resolution. But she said he supports the
existing policy.

"He really does believe it's helping to prevent injuries and accidents,"
Hale said.

Councilwomen Margaret Pageler, Jane Noland and Sue Donaldson voted against
the resolution. Council President Jan Drago was out of town.

"I feel the public has a right to expect the city to hire carefully,"
Pageler said.

When he was elected last year, Chong opposed the drug policy that required
his two legislative aides be tested. He said the policy was an invasion of
privacy and amounted to a chipping away of constitutional rights.

The city's policy was crafted by the Personnel Department as an expansion
of a federal law that required tests for those with commercial drivers
licenses.

Since July 1996, 114 applicants have failed the drug test.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and eight citizens, including
former Mayor Charles Royer, sued the city this year over the policy, saying
it violates basic human dignity and goes beyond constitutionally
permissible urine testing for safetysensitive positions. Council sponsors
of the resolution said it would not affect the lawsuit.

Doug Honig, spokesman for the ACLU, called the resolution a step in the
right direction. But he said the continued inclusion of employees who
handle money or work with minors means the policy remains broader than
legal precedents set by U.S. Supreme Court cases.